I feel nothing but sympathy for my poor Nan but the knock on effect to the rest of the family was massive and long term. I think I’m the only family member who is able to look at what happened as an awful accident and feel a sense of compassion for a man who had to then live knowing he’d hit and killed a kid.
I'm glad you can do that - for your sake, as it's free ing. Hating is exhausting and poisonous. It doesn't help anyone. Having compassion for that driver frees you and makes your loss easier to bear. Thank you for being that person.
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I think the likes of the Daily Mail are shamelessly enabling Emma Webber, it would be so much better for her if she didn't have that going on. They'll be like a puppet pulling her strings, really awful.
I agree. It's shades of Denise Bulger (now Fergus) who has never, ever, ever been allowed to have any sort of peace or any sort of reconciliation with the murder of her little boy. I hope to God this doesn't happen with this family.
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Fortunately that isn't how justice works.
Thank you for the book recommendation! I'll try that too. A good one I read on the Bulger case was As If by Blake Morrison (among others). There's a very good one about children who kill throughout the ages called
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If she didn't read it, how can she say what's in it?
I can imagine his family asking desperately for help and getting nowhere. I feel for them too.
QMLAN because I never actually finished that post! The book I recommended was The Devil's Children by Loretta Loach, a history of children who kill and how they've been treated. Another good one about the Bulger case is The Sleep of Reason by David Smith. Cries Unheard by Gita Sereny, about the Mary Bell case, is another very good one.
I don't mean to sound sanctimonious when I talk about this stuff. I'm sorry if I come across thus. I felt, very strongly, similarly to some of the posters on this thread at the time of and subsequent to the killing of poor little James. Hence I did a lot of reading as I like to understand the opposite perspective and where it comes from. I can honestly say that like I said in my other post, condemning a little less, and understanding a little more (unlike John Major, who generally I think gets it right, but I think got it wrong on that occasion) is not only best for society but can do something to alleviate the suffering of the victim's family. Because hatred and condemnation never grow old. They fester and can destroy.
I appreciate it's easier said than done; but I feel, with young children, we need to give it a shot for all our sakes.